Thirty years ago, the platform that would become MS-DOS was born, and went on to power the first PCs and underpin the earliest versions of Windows.

In actual fact, July 27 1981 was the date that Microsoft acquired a product called 86-DOS or Q-DOS ('quick and dirty operating system') from Seattle Computer Products, and hastily adapted it to produce the PC-DOS for IBM's new personal computer line.

However, Microsoft retained the rights to sell its own version of PC-DOS as MS-DOS from 1982, and this move is widely credited with opening the door for third-party PC-compatible systems, laying the foundations for today's personal computer industry.

Many computer users around today will quite possibly never have seen or even heard of MS-DOS, but you can get a flavour of the way things used to be by bringing up the command prompt in Windows and typing commands like DIR to list the contents of a directory (folder).

By today's standards, MS-DOS was laughably primitive, and provided only the most rudimentary services for applications and the end user. It did not support multi-tasking, meaning that only a single application could be used at once.

MS-DOS was originally developed for the Intel 8086 processor, and so was not designed to access more than a megabyte of total memory, a limitation that soon required numerous technical workarounds as software became more complex and newer chips supported ever larger memory address spaces.

The lack of any real graphical APIs also meant that programmers had to build their own user interface from scratch, with the result that applications had a radically different look and feel from each other, and users often had to learn arcane key combinations for functions, which also differed wildly between applications.

Windows eventually fixed this, but PCs were not really powerful enough to drive a GUI desktop environment until the 1990s.

Early versions of Windows actually ran on top of MS-DOS, with users having to start the graphical environment from the command line.

From Windows 95 onwards, it became increasingly hidden, with users having less and less need to be aware of its existence, but only actually disappeared when Microsoft killed off the Windows 9x line and merged its 'consumer' and 'professional' versions of Windows onto the NT kernel.

Many DOS programs can still be run on modern PCs inside emulators such as DOSBox.

It is also interesting to note that the 86-DOS on which the original MS-DOS was based was effectively an x86 variant of CP/M, an even older operating system that was widely used on 8-bit computers, meaning that you can draw a line of descent from today's Windows PCs right back to the earliest personal computers.

Apple has launched OS X 10.7 Lion which, as the name implies, should be the best and most useful version of the operating system yet.

This is more than just a service pack upgrade. There are lots of new features that add some genuinely interesting and potentially useful tools. Take, for example, multi-touch gestures via the trackpad. This allows you to move between apps, zoom in or out with a pinch or view Apple's new, grandly named 'Mission Control'.

Mission Control shows what applications are running, and provides access to places like the desktop or to open commonly used apps. It also adds the ability to see multiple open windows in apps.

So take, for example, your web browser. With several tabs open, you can see what pages you're looking at. It's very handy indeed and, while Windows 7 has some similar tools, it lacks this centralised approach.

It's not all good news, though. Apple has annoyed some users by removing support for some older applications. It has also removed Front Row for Lion, which means that people using Mac Minis for media centre purposes should avoid the update.

There have also been complaints that older, but still essential, software has stopped working, and that external monitors don't play well with the full screen mode. And many users don't like the fact that the scrolling is now reversed by default. This is to give an iOS feel, in common with the way scrolling works on an iPhone or iPad.

And, unsurprisingly, Apple has also removed Rosetta from OS X Lion. This means that old apps coded for PowerPC systems will not work at all. In Snow Leopard, it could be manually installed. In Lion it can't be accessed at all.

And one new feature worthy of some minor ridicule is the ability to maximise a window, which has been missing from Mac OS since it was launched. It has, of course, been on Linux multiple window managers and Microsoft Windows for a very long time. Mac users always used to claim that maximising windows wasn't necessary, so it will be interesting to see if their tune changes at all.

There are some great new features here, and it's going to be interesting to see what Microsoft can achieve with Windows 8 next year. The main difference between the two is, of course, that Microsoft still sees Windows as a tablet-suitable OS, whereas Apple has a forked its platforms into two distinct branches: desktop and mobile.

All new Macs sold from now will have OS X Lion. If you have an older Mac, you can upgrade for £20.99. It's obvious that Apple is keeping OS X at the forefront of what it does, even though it makes almost no money in itself.

A US-based company is offering a product that is unique, as far as we can tell: a laptop with dual 17in displays, aimed at creative professionals and other high-end users.

The Spacebook from gScreen Corp is not yet available, but the company is taking pre-orders from customers in the US and Canada.

Looking like a conventional laptop when closed, the Spacebook has a second screen that apparently slides out from behind the first when open, giving two 17in displays each capable of resolutions up to 1,920x1,080 pixels.

The rest of the specifications include Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, up to 8GB of memory, an Nvidia Geforce GTS 250M GPU, and a DVD Super-Multi drive, making the Spacebook effectively a dual-screen mobile workstation.

Of course, this comes at a cost and weight disadvantage. The Spacebook weighs in at an arm-stretching 4.5kg and is over 40cm wide. Prices start at $2,395, or about £1,500.

Sadly, gScreen is taking orders only from customers in the US and Canada at the moment, but this will presumably change if there is enough interest from other territories.

V3.co.uk visited Silverstone on Friday to catch practice ahead of qualifying for the British Grand Prix. We were given a sneak peek into the Mercedes GP Petronas team pit garage where we had a look at some of the tech on Nico Rosberg's car.

The cars are stripped down and subjected to very precise checks before being sent out onto the track.

Brake fluids are located at the front end, and the brakes are housed inside cake tin-like structures. The brakes on a Formula 1 car are extremely efficient and can bring the car from 62mph to 0mph in about 15 metres. A high performance roadcar needs around 30 metres.

A Kinetic Energy Recovery System is built into the Mercedes GP car, taking energy generated by the braking process and reusing it to provide a short-term boost which can be activated by the driver. 

The brakes are connected to the suspension. Below we can see the front suspension, which weighs a couple of kilograms and comes with different layers of carbon fibre. The suspension is designed to handle large amounts of force in multiple directions, and can take the stress of a seven tonne weight, for example.

Aerodynamics are key in Formula 1, and the front and rear wings are designed to create downforce to push the tyres onto the track, improve cornering and reduce drag. Drivers can make limited adjustments to the front and rear wings from the cockpit during a race.

Mercedes was testing a redesigned exhaust on Friday, but at the time of writing there was confusion surrounding the off-throttle diffuser technology relating to this part.

Some teams, including Mercedes GP, have been able to blow exhaust gases over the rear floor of the car even when the driver is not pushing down on the accelerator. This has the effect of increasing downforce and grip, but there are claims that this is giving some teams an unfair advantage.

When I reviewed Microsoft's Office 365 last week, I tested the cloud-based productivity suite on Windows PCs, running either Windows 7 or Windows XP.

To recap, Office 365 provides access to cloud-hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint, plus Microsoft's Lync telephony client and web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

However, with most of the capabilities of Office 365 provided through a browser, it should be possible for users on other platforms, such as Mac or Linux, to gain access to Office features.

To find out, I tried accessing my test account on an Apple iMac and a PC running Ubuntu with a version of Firefox.

The results were encouraging, everything looking and functioning exactly as it does when you access it from a PC. It would seem that Microsoft has done a pretty good job of ensuring cross-platform support via the browser, with this suite at least.

On both the Mac and Ubuntu I was able to access Outlook and send and receive email, check the calendar, and even edit shared documents stored on SharePoint using the Office Web Apps such as Word.

The one area where this falls down is with Lync, Microsoft's messaging and telephony tool. Unlike the other functions, this is a full-blown software client that must be installed locally, and non-Windows users are out of luck here.

While there is a version of Microsoft's Communicator (the old name for Lync) for Mac OS, Microsoft states on its Office 365 web site: "At this time Communicator for Mac 2011 will not work with Office 365."

Screenshots showcasing a forthcoming MeeGo interface have been released, offering a taste of what to expect when the Nokia N9 goes on sale later this year.

The MeeGo interface appears to be a mix of the Android and Windows Phone platform, judging by the images posted on the Nokia Conversations Blog.

The screenshots show what core applications including Contacts, Calendars, Maps, Messaging and Facebook will look like on the high-end device.  

Nokia Maps will allows users to get directions and will also highlight places of interest and public transport links nearby. Prominent buildings appear to be shown in 3D, following in the footsteps of Google Maps 5. There will also be a dedicated in-car navigation app called Drive.

The Calendar app looks straightforward and will allow business users to keep track of meetings and tasks. Reminders can be added to any day by pressing the '+' key. The app also integrates with Nokia Maps, making it easy to find meeting places. It's a very useful feature.

Interestingly, messaging input looks very similar to the stock Android Honeycomb keyboard, but this isn't a bad thing. The N9 is set to come with a large 3.9in screen, so typing on the device should be reasonably comfortable.

The Notifications application also looks to be an interesting feature, displaying the profile picture of contacts to give the interface a more personal feel, like the Windows Phone operating system.The Nokia N9 is set to launch later this year, and V3.co.uk will post a video demonstration and full review when a handset is available.

V3.co.uk got some hands-on time with the forthcoming Archos G9 tablet range at the launch event in central London last night.

There are two sizes being offered by Archos - the 8in and 10.1in - the only difference being the weight, screen size and resolution.

Both G9 models are powered by an ARM Cortex dual-core A9 processor with a clock speed of 1.5GHz, making them 50 per cent faster than tablets currently on the market. However, it remains to be seen whether this will still be the case when they are launched in September.

Although performance of the G9 tablets was quick, navigating around the Honeycomb interface didn't appear any faster than existing tablets. The main performance gains are likely to be in the video output (the device ia capable of playing back full 1080p content) and internet performance.

The 8in G9 features a display with a resolution of 1,024x768, whereas the 10.1in model has a slightly sharper 1,280x800 resolution. Archos will offer the choice between 16GB of Flash memory or 250GB of HDD space, depending on requirements, the latter likely to appeal to business users.

In terms of design, both versions of the G9 did feel a little bulky. The 8in has a starting weight of 465g if users opt for 16GB of Flash storage, rising to 599g if the 250GB HDD is chosen.

Although the basic 8in device is only slightly heavier than the 7in BlackBerry PlayBook (425g) the Archos has a much larger chassis and cannot fit into a jacket pocket, unlike RIM's device.

The 10in model has a starting weight of 649g with 16GB of memory, or 755g with the 250GB HDD. This makes it heavier than the similar sized iPad 2 (613g) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (589g).

One of the unique features is the 3G USB dongle, which fits into the back of the chassis. This is incorporated into the design well, and allows the use of a SIM card from an existing dongle to connect to the internet.

The trademark kickstand has also been retained in both models, but there is only one position that can be used, unlike the previous Archos 101 tablet, which had two fixable positions.

Archos claims that the devices will ship with the updated Android Honeycomb 3.1. This will be the standard version of the operating system, with no overlay provided. Access to the Android Market is expected to be included, as are the traditional Google applications.

It's fair to say that the French manufacturer offers some of the best budget tablets on the market and the G9 series looks to continue this trend. We slightly preferred the 8in device and, with prices starting at £199 for the 16GB model, it looks like a solid offering for business users on a budget.

The 10in device could attract those who watch a lot of multimedia and is reasonably priced at £279.

Watch our hands-on videos of the 80 G9 and the 101 G9.

IBM has been piloting a real-time analytics tool that tracks players' movement, stamina, distance covered and style of play during the 125th Wimbledon championship, with the aim of having it up and running next year.

V3.co.uk was invited to the IBM Bunker at Wimbledon to get a sneak preview of the SecondSight system being trialled on Court 18.

The system uses technology orignally developed for military use, and works by capturing player data via multiple cameras located behind the umpire. This information is analysed using IBM's algorithms and rendered to display a real-time 3D graphic.

"We've been able to collect statistics about individual points up till now, and have extended this to collect statistics about player fitness," Alan Flack, IBM's Wimbledon client and programme executive, told V3.co.uk.

"We can track speed, stamina and distance covered over the course of a match. It is also possible to map player movement to see their style of play and to see who is tiring, for example."

The SecondSight system is pending approval from Wimbledon officials, and if accepted is likely to be available on the official web site for next year's tournament. Flack also noted that the dashboard could be used as a broadcast overlay so that viewers can see statistics during matches.

The main screen simulates point-by-point action and shows stats including player speed and distance covered.

All player movement is mapped, the red areas indicating the most used part of the court.

IBM also demonstrated its PointStream service, which was launched in time for this year's tournament. The information graphic is available on the official Wimbledon web site, which had over five million unique visitors and over 180 million page views in the first five days of the tournament.

PointStream uses predictive analytics to generate three key things that a player has to do to win a match, and monitors how well these are being fulfilled during the match, explained Elizabeth Hammer, IBM project manager for Wimbledon.

"We are using this for tennis, but there is no reason that the analytics technology cannot be used to analyse data in the financial or biomedical industries where they have a wealth of data," she said.

The 'three keys' are updated throughout the match, so viewers have an idea of who has the upper hand.